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Cocculus (diminutive of kokkos, berry; the fruit being berry-like). Syn., Cebatha, Epibaterium. Menispermacex. Shrubs grown for their handsome foliage and the ornamental red or black fruits.
Twining or erect: Lvs. alternate, petioled, entire or lobed, with entire margin, deciduous or persistent, palminerved: fls. inconspicuous, dioecious, in axillary panicles or racemes, sometimes terminal; sepals, petals and stamens 6: carpels 3-6, distinct, developing into berry-like, 1-seeded drupes; seed reniform.—About 12 species in N. Amer., E. and S. Asia, Afr. and Hawaii, chiefly in tropical and subtropical regions. Only a few species are cult., thriving in almost any somewhat moist soil; the evergreen kinds are sometimes grown in pots, in a sandy compost of peat and loam. Prop, by seeds or by cuttings of half-ripened wood in summer, under glass, with bottom heat.
"Cocculus indicus" is the trade name of the berries used by the Chinese in catching fish. The berries contain an acrid poison, which intoxicates or stuns the fish until they can be caught. The berries are imported from the East Indies to adulterate porter, and "Cocculus indicus" is a trade name with druggists, not a botanical one, just as "Cassia lignea" is a trade name of a kind of cinnamon bark, derived, not from a cassia, but from a species of Cinnamomum. The name "Cocculus indicus" was given by Bauhin, but binomial nomenclature began later, with Linnaeus, in 1753. The plant which produces the berries is Anamirta Cocculus.
C. diversifolius, Miq., not DC.= Sinomenium acutum.—C. heterophyllus. Hemsl. & WiIson= Sinomenium acutum.—C. japonicus, DC.= Stephania hernandifolia.—C. laurifolius, DC. Erect shrub, to 15 ft., glabrous: Lvs. evergreen, oblong, acute at both ends. Himalayas. Decorative, with its bright green, shining foliage. Only hardy in subtropical regions. Alfred Rehder.
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